We need to track down the bill for the festival flyers from the Burlington Record. The Lincoln County Tourism Board will reimburse the Alliance for this cost.

Jayci and Kaylee have tabs for meals that need to be paid from Friday night. Courtney has a tab for $8 for Saturday night.

Meals

There was discussion about the charging (or not) of club members who are serving meals. Should the Alliance get $1 even for club members who eat who aren’t paying their club? Sheri moved that the Alliance allow each club to decide how they will handle charges for their member’s meals at these events – whether or not they pay the Alliance $1. Betty Lee seconded. The motion passed.

Back to the Treasurer’s Report

We need to clarify with the clubs that we are planning for a certain number of guests and ask them to plan for that number of guests in addition to those of their club who plan to eat.

We need to pay $515 for event insurance to Gordon Insurance Agency.

Sheri needs a bill from Steve for port-a-potties.

Membership

We have received some donations as a result of our mailing.

Mary Merewether is willing to take on the role of membership secretary – keeping track of members, promoting renewals, tracking dues, etc.

We gave away 2 small and 2 large mugs and 1 cap, not included in the count given above.

Festival Comments

Overall, comments were positive.

Entertainment sound checks need to be done earlier in the afternoon rather than when everyone is getting ready to eat.

Should we only have the festival Friday and Saturday?

We need more help. If clubs can’t help with meals, maybe we should look for families to serve meals or take on jobs.

Participants commented that the chuck wagon dinner wasn’t really “chuck wagon”. We should look into getting a tent. It was tight in the Community Center on Saturday night.

We need to try to plan farther ahead and use minutes from previous festivals.

Only one participant commented that the festival was too expensive.

Advertising needs to have more details, which support the price of the festival. We need to have the package worked up and sent to the Audubon Societies by November. Brochures and website need to be completed that early. Planning needs to start in September. We already have next year’s date on one website.

Next year’s festival will be April 29, 30, and May 1.

We need to work with John Koshak for marketing. The school is going to start working with Laura Atwater at $25/hour for marketing the online school. We might be able to tap into her skills, too. We need to make more of an effort to get to more birding meetings ahead of time.

We need to ask about dietary restrictions during the registration process.

We need a large sign that says “Home of the Mountain Plover Festival” with the website location so folks can look up the dates there. It could be at the top of an announcement board for the community. We could also put one down on the highways. Carl will get some prices and ideas.

There were no concerns about housing arrangements during the festival.

Vendors

The craft fair drew most vendors out of the Community Building. It gave more room for the festival activities, improved attendance for the festival, and made the weekend better overall.

Alliance Secretary

Mags is resigning as secretary as of May 15. We need a new secretary – or two. Jeff will talk to Connie Stone.

The tractor and cow seemed to be preferred by Lincoln County residents. The plover logo was stronger with out-of-county participants. We’ll need to decide to whom the articles will be marketed.

RAW Program

Sustainability of this program is going to be tricky with Mark leaving. Maybe a stipend could be offered to the teacher. It is equivalent to sponsoring a very time-consuming school club.

Meals for Plover Researchers

Could a few folks get together to serve a meal about once a week or twice a month? The Stogsdills and Merewethers would be interested. Jodi Kerr might be interested. There would be about 8 or 9 people. They’ll be here into August. Carl will touch base with the techs about a schedule. Vicki said they could pay $8 per meal. Sheri will talk to Jodi about helping. Jeff could help with one meal a month, too. This could be open to the community as a regular summer fundraiser, since there is no café in town.

Next Meeting

Wednesday, June 23 at 6 pm – potluck supper for the Carlings. The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m.